I believe in living a sustainable life.  Today, many of us struggle, working 40+ hour weeks without any sense of security or a connection with each other and with the environment.  This takes a toll on our bodies and minds, our wallets, and our Mother Earth.  We can take simple, affordable steps to create sustainable living, no matter our circumstances.

Currently, I study agriculture using satellite imagery in a cloud-computing platform. This allows me to locate and assess the health and productivity of crops globally using Google’s computing power, so I can help address global food security. To do this I leverage my BS in Biology and PhD in Environmental Sciences. Given our rapidly increasing population and limited agricultural resources, we need to monitor food availability to ensure that we can feed ourselves in the future.  I LOVE my job!

But I don’t want to die at my desk.  Unfortunately, the sciences no longer provide enough opportunities to work a reasonable number of hours maintaining a position with the same organization for decades and retiring well.  This is just not the reality of my generation or those coming after me.  I had this epiphany when a new position fell through just a month before I was supposed to start.  The timing was terrible!  My previous term as a postdoc was ending, and I now had nothing to fall back on.  This drove home the reality that a career in the sciences would involve me moving every two years.  With my own mental health challenges, moving so often would be unsustainable for me. Unsure about whether I could pay rent and feed my dog, I recognized I HAD to change my lifestyle to be at peace.

I never again wanted to be in the position of not having a place to live.

So I bought land, started growing my own vegetables, keeping livestock for food, and working to get completely off the grid.  Even from childhood, I was drawn to the natural world and its connectedness.  As I got older, I pursued science in my education, first in biology and then in the environmental sciences to discover holistically the natural world and our place in it.  Now, using all of my education and what I have learned over the years, I have created a way to live that is physically and emotionally more sustainable.  This allows greater financial security and mental resilience. Of course, this lifestyle also lets me minimize my environmental footprint, and live according to my own values.

While not everyone can pick up and move to a farm, anyone can take small steps toward sustainable living as I did.  Let me help you learn how to grow your own food, even in an apartment, lower your electricity and water bills, and decrease your environmental footprint in a way that is truly liberating.  You’ll be able to do your part in healing the Planet while healing yourself.  

Let’s get started!